


Be Mine

by biblionerd07



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Platonic Romance, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Secret Admirer, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3357440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biblionerd07/pseuds/biblionerd07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Bucky wanted was to make sure Steve got some Valentine's Day cards at school, but suddenly he finds himself pretending to be Steve's secret admirer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Mine

“Bucky, did you remember your cards?” His mother checked as he hastily stuffed his fingers into his mittens and rushed out the front door.

“Yeah, Ma, I got ‘em!” He promised, herding his sisters out the door. It was February 14, and that meant they were exchanging Valentine’s Day cards at school. They were better off than most, so they could afford store-bought cards, but they weren’t so well-off they could afford cards for all three of the kids in school. Bucky didn’t care so much; he was thirteen and didn’t see what all the fuss was about. He gave his sisters the cards from the store and his ma had helped him cut hearts out of paper to address them to the girls and his teacher.

He handed out the cards obediently and then looked around furtively. He had two hearts left, that he’d cut out without his mother’s help. She’d told him he wasn’t allowed to give Steve a Valentine, certainly not at school. People would talk, she said. It wasn’t right for a boy to give another boy a Valentine.

But the thing was, Bucky knew Steve wasn’t going to get many from their classmates. There were girls whose parents would make them give a card to all the boys in class, and there were two or three girls who were friends with Steve, but even as young as they were, Steve had a Reputation, capital letter and all. He got in fights, his ma had no husband, and his many ailments were well known, mostly because of how much school he missed.

Even still, Bucky had no doubt Steve would bring a card for every single girl in class, even mean Missy Williams, just because he wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out. Not many people were going to be as considerate of his feelings, and it made Bucky burn with anger. Steve would pretend not to care, but it would hurt his feelings, no doubt about it.

Bucky, of course, had worried over this half the night before coming up with a solution. He’d simply made two extra Valentines and addressed them _to Steve, love, your secret admirer_. Bucky dropped his two secret admirer hearts on Steve’s seat nonchalantly when no one was looking and then went back to his own desk, where a pile of Valentines was waiting for him. He gave Betty Adams a big smile. She’d brought him a whole cookie and there was nothing to complain about there.

Steve was going around the room, earnestly delivering Valentines. And of course he’d put a painstaking amount of detail into every card, personalizing them to every girl, with a picture of her or something she liked on the card. Steve’s cards were handmade—there was no way he’d be able to afford something from the store—but they were leaps and bounds better than anyone else’s, even the bought ones. Bucky grinned at the stunned look on some of the girls’ faces when they realized they’d been shown up. Served them right for looking down their noses at Steve.

Steve’s desk was in the back corner, because Ms. Meyer didn’t like his attitude, and Bucky was up in the front because he was a bit of a pet, so Bucky couldn’t see how Steve reacted to his secret admirers. Ms. Meyer called them back to attention soon and they had to get on with their arithmetic, but Bucky was giddy with the thought of how excited Steve would be to have not just one secret admirer but _two_.

After school, Bucky waited almost the whole way home for Steve to bring it up, but he didn’t say anything. Finally, Bucky couldn’t take it anymore and burst out, “So, who’d you get Valentines from?”

Steve shrugged. “The usual. Margaret and Esther. I think Lillian’s mother made her give me one.”

He didn’t say anything else and Bucky bristled a little. Was Steve planning to _hide_ his secret admirers from Bucky? That was outrageous. They told each other everything. Bucky had even told Steve about the time he wet his pants at his cousin’s piano concert when he was eight.

Maybe Steve was afraid Bucky would be jealous. He’d never had a secret admirer. That would be just like Steve, to sit on his good news in case it hurt Bucky’s feelings. Well, how could Bucky make him see he wasn’t jealous without giving up the game?

“Anyone else?” Bucky prompted. Steve sighed.

“Got two that say they’re from a secret admirer,” he admitted. Bucky did his best to look surprised.

“Gee, Steve, a secret admirer?” He echoed. “That’s swell. Got any ideas who it is?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I know it’s not a real admirer.”

Bucky cringed. “Now, look, Stevie—”

“Probably Harold making fun of me again,” Steve interrupted, kicking at a rock in their path. Bucky snapped his mouth shut. He didn’t anticipate this.

“No, what makes you say that?”

“Just two days ago he told me no one was going to give me any Valentines,” Steve mumbled. Bucky momentarily forgot his panic.

“He said what? Why didn’t you tell me? We coulda beat him up.”

“We don’t need to beat him up over that.” Steve waved a hand around. “We’d be fighting every day if we fought everyone who said stuff like that to me.”

“We _do_ fight every day,” Bucky pointed out.

“Not _every_ day,” Steve protested. “And ‘sides, we fight for good reasons.”

“I think punching him for saying that’s a good reason.”

Steve rolled his eyes and poked Bucky good-naturedly. “A _real_ reason.” He could probably tell Bucky didn’t want to let go of Steve’s pride being a real reason, because he added quickly, “Anyway, I could tell a girl didn’t write those Valentines. That was a boy’s handwriting. None of the girls in our class have such bad penmanship.”

Bucky huffed, but couldn’t outwardly show how miffed he was. He’d been in a hurry, thank you very much, because he had to do it in _secret_. It had also been _dark_. So he didn’t have perfect handwriting like Steve. Could you blame a guy?

“Well, anyway, I saved you half the cookie Betty gave me.” Bucky held up the offering and hoped Steve would put all the Valentine business out of his head.

“Thanks, Buck.” Steve gave him a smile so bright Bucky had to turn his head away. Now Bucky had a new worry—Steve didn’t believe he really had a secret admirer. Bucky would take care of that.

That night, Bucky had to cut out more hearts, cursing himself for this terrible idea. He should just let it lie. But the thought that Steve went home thinking some clown was just teasing him made Bucky’s stomach hurt. He took his time writing out the words and made sure everything looked as neat as possible. He supposed he could get Becca’s help, but it made him feel weird. She’d probably tattle to Ma and he didn’t want to try explaining this.

It was harder to find a good time to drop it on Steve’s desk, because there wasn’t a party going on today, but Bucky managed to do it when Steve got up to get a drink. It was hard not to look back to gauge Steve’s reaction. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long before Steve told him about it.

“Harold’s really keeping this joke going,” Steve complained. “He left another note on my desk.”

Bucky felt his mouth drop open a little. Seriously, Steve? “Maybe it’s not Harold,” Bucky said. “Maybe it’s really just a secret admirer.”

“Oh, c’mon, Buck, who’d be _my_ secret admirer?” Steve asked quietly. Bucky felt his hands balling into fists. He hated every person in their school who made Steve think he wasn’t good enough for a secret admirer. He hated every person in the _world_ who made Steve feel like that. Bucky glared at Steve.

“Everyone should be your secret admirer!” He declared. “You’re the best, Stevie, really, and if you keep talking like that I’ll knock your teeth out.”

“You’ll knock my teeth out?” Steve sounded completely shocked. He and Bucky got into spats sometimes, but Bucky had never threatened him like that.

“’s what I’d do to anyone else talking ‘bout my best pal like that,” Bucky reminded him. Steve ducked his head, smiling a little as he realized what Bucky meant.

“Alright, alright, I get it.” Steve shook his head, still smiling, and Bucky got that wriggly feeling in his stomach he got sometimes when Steve smiled at him.

He needed to work harder on this secret admirer business. Steve still didn’t believe it. A dumb heart wouldn’t be enough. Bucky sat close to the window long after everyone else had gone to bed so he could use the light from the lamps outside. He bit his lip, trying to think of a way to convince Steve that it wasn’t Harold but not let him think it wasn’t a girl.

 _Dear Steve_ , he wrote at the top of a page. Then he stopped. He didn’t know what else to write. What would he write if he was a secret admirer? What would a secret admirer admire?

_Your eyes are the best blue I’ve ever seen. Better than the sky. And sometimes the sun shines on your hair and makes it look like a pirate’s treasure. You’re not afraid of anything and you never give up. You’re the best guy in the whole school and probably the whole world._  
_Love, your secret admirer._

Bucky read over his words and nodded. It was all true, but he’d made it sound girly, he thought. Girly enough for Steve to believe it, at least. He grabbed the last heart candy he’d gotten with his Valentines and examined the message written on it before dropping it into the envelope with the letter. _Be mine_ , it said. Be his what, he wasn’t sure, but he thought it seemed like something a girl would say.

Bucky agonized all day about Steve’s reaction. Did he do a good enough job? Finally, school was out and Bucky shot up from his seat. He followed Steve out of the classroom like usual. Steve was being weirdly quiet and Bucky hoped it was because he was caught up thinking about his secret admirer.

“I know it’s you,” Steve finally said, abruptly, two blocks away from school.

“What?” Bucky asked. He’d been in the middle of a story about his baby sister knocking over a full glass of milk and how his dad had probably wanted to thump her but she was too little.

“The secret admirer, Buck. Thanks for trying to make me feel good but I know it’s you.”

Bucky’s mouth went dry. He had not anticipated this. And really, he realized quickly, he didn’t think this through very well at all. What if Steve had wanted to meet his secret admirer? What was Bucky going to do then? This whole thing was a terrible plan.

“What are you talking about?” Bucky feigned ignorance and Steve gave him a look.

“You think I don’t know your handwriting? I knew all along.”

“Why’d you say you thought it was Harold then?” Bucky’s heart was beating funny.

“I was just teasing a little. Thought you’d ‘fess up if I thought it was Harold.”

“I just wanted to make sure you had some Valentines,” Bucky mumbled. They weren’t looking at each other. Something about Steve knowing it had been him all along made Bucky’s stomach feel weird. What if Steve thought he was weird now? His Ma had said it wasn’t right, a boy giving another boy a Valentine. What if Steve was mad and thought Bucky had been teasing him? Bucky didn’t know what he’d do if he lost his best friend.

“Thanks,” Steve said. There was an awkward pause where neither of them knew what to say next. “You really do have terrible handwriting,” Steve broke it. Bucky puffed up in annoyance.

“I had to do it in _secret_ ,” he explained. “Sheesh, Stevie, I try to do something nice and that’s the thanks I get.”

Steve was laughing at him now, and that felt a million times better than the weird silence that had been hanging over them.

“Sorry I ain’t an _artist_ like you,” Bucky continued, shoving Steve. Steve shoved him back. They laughed and raced back to Steve’s place, and Bucky felt himself relaxing. He hadn’t ruined everything. He still had Steve, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
